Despite risking their lives to escape famine and political oppression in North Korea, many defectors still feel attached to their homeland. No matter how horrible it was to live there, the North remains their birthplace and was the backdrop for a good part of their lives.
Their nostalgia for home is well expressed in "Young-ok's Call Not Answered", a short film produced by teenage defectors attending a special school in South Korea. Produced by Shin Young-ok, 17, and several friends, it was recently released on the Internet portal Daum (tvpot.media.daum.net), and via SK Telecom and KTF mobile phone networks.
It begins in the winter with Young-ok calling her boyfriend, who is still in the North. The answering machine picks up, and she leaves a message that lasts the duration of the film.
"Hi Nam-cheol, do you remember me? This is Young-ok".
"Studying is hard here. I was a better student than you in the North...but many South Korean students are better than me".
"I remember spending...|
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